SPECIAL TOPIC: CESSATION

Have the NT gifts ceased?

This question is difficult to answer. It helps to clarify the issue by defining the purpose of the gifts.
1. are they meant to confirm the initial preaching of the gospel?
2. are they ongoing ways for the church to minister to itself and a lost world?
Does one look at the history of the church to answer the question or the NT itself? There is no indication in the NT that the spiritual gifts were temporary. Those who try to use 1 Cor. 13:8-13 to address this issue abuse the authorial intent of the passage, which asserts that everything but love will pass away.
I am tempted to say that since the NT, not church history, is the authority, believers must affirm that the gifts continue. However, I believe that culture affects interpretation. Some very clear texts are no longer applicable (i.e., the holy kiss, women wearing veils, churches meeting in homes, etc). If culture affects texts, then why not church history?
This is simply a question that cannot be definitively answered. Some believers will advocate "cessation" and others "non-cessation." In this area, as in many interpretative issues, the heart of the believer is the key. The NT is ambiguous and cultural. The difficulty is being able to decide which texts are affected by culture/history and which are for all time and all cultures (cf. Fee and Stuart's How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, pp. 14-19 and 69-77). Here is where the discussions of freedom and responsibility, which are found in Rom. 14:1-15:13 and 1 Corinthians 8-10, are crucial. How we answer the question is important in two ways.
1. Each believer must walk in faith in the light they have. God looks at our heart and motives.
2. Each believer must allow other believers to walk in their faith understanding. There must be tolerance within biblical bounds. God wants us to love one another as He does.
To sum up the issue, Christianity is a life of faith and love, not a perfect theology. A relationship with Him which impacts our relationship with others is more important than definitive information or creedal perfection.